Day 11

This morning I got up early and went for a six-mile hike in the Sylvania Wilderness Area. Sylvania is a place that was never touched by logging or fire, so it's one of the few areas of natural old-growth forest in the northeast United States. The Wilderness Area has very special restrictions; among them, you can't bring in metal or glass containers. The area is popular for adventerous canoers, who spend days in there, going from lake to lake across portages and camping at different spots. They actually have a pamphlet called "Is Sylania Right For You?" or something like that, trying to discourage amateurs from planning a half-cocked adventure and getting themselves in trouble. Unfortunately that kind of adventure couldn't fit into this trip, but maybe someday...

The hike down the length of Clark Lake was cool, although I'm starting to wonder if "old-growth forest" is becoming an overrated thing. Yes, there are certainly some huge old trees, but a lot of the trees in the "new-growth forests" have gotten pretty big too. Definitely 50 years ago there would have been a big difference, but some of the "new-growth forests" are almost 100 years old now, so the gap is narrowing. Really the biggest difference I noticed was the lack of undergrowth. In most places there was just a springy bed of pine needles so you could walk anywhere under the canopy. I'm not sure if that's more a factor of the age of the forest though, or just a regional characteristic. Still, I could easily feel the untouched nature of the area, and I left a whole lot more to explore.

I crossed the WI/MI border for the eighth and final time today (six on the bike, two in the car). As I was in National and State Forests for most of the day, I passed through only two areas of civilization: Boulder Junction and Lac du Flambeau. If they were in Michigan, these places would have been like all those ghost towns I saw, but here, they were active communities. Boulder Junction, because it has fashioned itself into a tourist center, with inns and craft shops and restaurants along the main road, and tourists walking down the sidewalks from place to place. And Lac du Flambeau, because it has an Indian Casino. Around here, a late-model Volkswagen, Subaru, or high-end SUV is often seen on the road where you'd normally just expect beaten old pickup trucks.

I made it to Twin Lake Campground in Chequamegon National Forest without getting rained on more than a few drops, even though it seemed to be threatening all day. Still warm enough for just shorts and a t-shirt, and I even rode in my sandals all day today in preparation for the rain. It did finally start somewhat earnestly just as I began writing this, but by then I was holed up safely in the tent, and it seems like it's already stopping.